Lost and Found
by Halsteadpd
Summary: Linstead one shot


**Special thanks to queseraone for coming up with the title, editing and basically thinking of the whole idea**

Being a cop in Chicago was a highly stressful job. Basically that meant Jay Halstead needed a lot of stress relief.

One of his favourite things to do was going for a run through the park near his apartment. It was always full of families spending time together, usually at the playground or feeding the ducks at the pond. He would often bring his nephew Owen just to see the little boy smile and hear his precious giggles as he watched the ducks eat the bread he'd throw into the water.

But today Jay was on his own. He laced up his sneakers and put his bluetooth headphones in his ears before grabbing his phone and keys, making his way out the door. He stretched his legs out when he arrived in the park and pulled the hood of his sweater up over his head when he realized it was colder than he thought. On those extremely cold days, he would settle for one of the treadmills his apartment offered in their gym, but he wasn't a big fan of them. Jay loved the fresh air he got to breathe in most mornings.

He quickly set his pace and allowed the music blasting in his headphones to distract him from everything going on in his mind.

After running a few miles, Jay stopped to look at his watch. He carefully calculated the time it would take to get back home, take a shower and eat breakfast before he would be needed at work when he felt someone staring at him.

Looking around the park, he noticed a German Shepherd patiently sitting near an empty bench, looking at him with its head cocked to the side. Jay immediately noticed the collar around the dog's neck so he came to the conclusion that is wasn't a stray dog.

Slowly, Jay walked towards the dog, not wanting to startle it. He could see how the dog began to get excited by the way it wagged its tail and stood up.

"Hey buddy." Jay called out softly. "Where's your owner, huh?" The dog barked in reply as he watched Jay approach. Carefully, Jay extended his hand out towards the dog, waiting for it to make the first move. The dog pushed its wet nose onto Jay's hand, sniffing before licking his palm. "Good dog." Jay praised as he rubbed the dog's fur with his other hand. Looking towards the dog's tags, Jay took a hold on the bone shaped one. "Zeus." He stated as he watched the dog respond to his name. "How about we go to my place and get some water before calling your owner to pick you up?"

As Jay stood up, he realized the dog didn't have a leash on him. He had no idea how he was going to get Zeus back to his place until he noticed the dog obediently waiting for him to make a move. Walking forward, Jay looked back and noticed the German Shepherd followed behind him, stopping when he stopped. "You're a really well trained dog aren't you buddy?"

When Jay got home, he filled a bowl with cold water before placing it onto the floor and grabbed a bottle for himself from the fridge. He watched as Zeus emptied the bowl quickly before expectantly looking up at Jay.

"You're still thirsty?! Alright." Jay dumped the rest of his bottle's content into the bowl and chuckled as the dog emptied out his water dish again. "How about we call your owner so they can come pick you up? How does that sound?" Jay reached over towards the tag again, searching for a phone number. He pulled his cell phone out from his pocket, dialling the number before bringing it up to his ear. He listened to it ring a few times before it went to voicemail.

"_Hey, this is Erin Lindsay. Leave me a message and I'll get back to you as soon as possible_."

"Hey. I found your dog in the park. Call me back as soon as you can and we'll meet up." Jay hung up the phone before turning his face towards Zeus. "I guess it's just us for a while."

While Jay got ready to go to work, Zeus napped in the sun that came through the large floor to ceiling windows. He would open his eyes when he heard Jay walking around, wanting to know what he was up to. When he smelled food cooking, he made his way into the kitchen and sat by Jay's feet.

"I have no idea what I'm going to do with you while I'm at work so I hope this works as a bribe to not trash my place." Jay pulled the pan off the stove before moving the bacon onto a plate to cool down. He walked around the kitchen, getting his own breakfast ready before returning to the plate of bacon. "Hopefully Erin won't be too mad that I gave you this." Placing it onto the floor, Jay watched as the dog ravenously ate the meat. "I think I'm gonna have to pick up some food for you. Bacon won't cut it."

After finishing breakfast and grabbing his badge and gun, Jay sat down in front of Zeus. "Be a good dog, okay?" He scratched the dog's ears before making his way to the door to slip on his boots before leaving.

Erin couldn't believe what had happened. She doesn't even know how he got out!

She worked the overnight shift at Med and came back to an empty apartment. Usually Zeus would come running at her, having missed her the whole night although he had been sleeping.

After calling out for him a few times and searching her apartment a couple of times, she realized he wasn't there.

She wanted to cry.

She ran down to the lobby to ask the doorwoman if she had seen Zeus run out, but she hadn't. Erin ran around the neighbourhood, calling out before returning home, defeated. As much as she wanted to find him, she was fresh off a 12 hour shift and was exhausted. Being a nurse in the ICU meant that she needed to be on her toes at all times—there was no telling when she would be needed in a life saving situation.

She collapsed on her bed and cried herself into a fitful slumber, unaware of her phone ringing in her jacket pocket.

When she woke up, the sun was setting in the distance. Quickly realizing she didn't set her alarm on her phone, Erin jumped out of bed and ran into the shower.

After getting dressed and ready to leave for another night shift, she realized she wouldn't have enough time to eat and make it to the hospital in time. She stopped by the local pizzeria down the street and sat at a table while munching on her dinner. She pulled her almost dead cell phone out of her pocket when she noticed she had a voicemail. Putting her phone to her ear, she thought she was going to collapse upon hearing the stranger's voice on the other end.

"_Hey. I found your dog in the park. Call me back as soon as you can and we'll meet up."_

She called his phone—not wanting to waste a second on getting her German Shepherd back—and held her breath as she listened to it ring.

"Hello?" He finally answered just as she was about to hang up.

"Hello, hey you left a voicemail and said you found my dog?" Erin said, jumping straight to the point.

"Yeah. Zeus. He's at my place right now actually. Did you want to meet somewhere or…?" Jay left the question hanging, not wanting the woman to feel uncomfortable around him.

"I have work in about half an hour. Can you meet me at Chicago Med?" Erin silently thought about what she could do with Zeus while she worked. She knew the day shift would be getting off soon so she could have one of them take Zeus home. "If you can't I can have somebody meet you wherever."

"No, it's fine. I'll see you at Med."

Erin waited outside the main entrance to the hospital with her hands deep in her coat pockets. She had charged her phone in the car on the drive over but she expectantly looked around, waiting to see her dog.

She heard barking in the distance and saw Zeus pulling hard on the leash held by the stranger.

"Oh my God, Zeus I was so scared!" She said as the dog raced over to her and licked her face. "How'd you get out of the apartment?" Obviously, the dog didn't reply. He circled Erin's legs while rubbing up against them. Looking up, Erin noticed that the stranger was watching them with a smile on his face.

At a second glance, she noticed how the stranger was _insanely _hot.

She did a once over of him and although he was wearing sweatpants and a puffy winter parka, she knew he was physically fit. God she would kill to see what his arms looked like.

"Hey." Erin said, bringing his attention to her. "I honestly can't thank you enough. I'm Erin by the way."

"Jay. It was honestly no trouble. I usually go for runs in the park and he was chilling just watching me." Jay walked towards Zeus and scratched behind his ears. "We had a fun time together."

Erin watched as Jay's own eyes did a once over of her. She was usually disgusted when men did so, but there was something about him doing it that made her feel good.

"Well I'll see you around I guess." Jay said with a bit of sadness in his voice. When he first saw Erin, he honestly thought his heart jumped out of his chest. She was absolutely gorgeous and he wanted to touch the deep dimples in her cheeks. He had the absurd thought that one day their children would have the same indentations. Too bad he wasn't confident enough to ask her out. There was no way a woman like that could be single. He turned away slowly and walked back to his car, looking back once to watch Zeus and Erin interact.

_Maybe one day_. He thought.

The next morning, Jay warmed up and stretched for his run as he usually did. He put his headphones in his ears and set off on a light jog until he made it to the park. His feet pounding the cement felt therapeutic and all his thoughts and worries turned off for the time being.

Halfway through his run, he heard a familiar sound.

It was the sound of a dog barking. But it wasn't any dog, it was Zeus!

Zeus ran full speed at Jay, jumping up to lick his face as he had done with Erin the previous night.

"Hey bud." Jay said as he rubbed the dog's fur. "Did you get loose again? You know you can't keep doing that." Jay was momentarily distracted by a piece of paper around Zeus' collar. He gently ripped it off and read the word 'dinner?' scribed onto the paper.

Looking around, he noticed Erin slowly making her way towards him with the smile he loved so much on her face.

So maybe that one day would be quicker than he thought.

X

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